The VIVO Pro Kabaddi auctions, which took place on the 30th and 31st of May, saw a total of 422 players going under the hammer. Monu Goyat became the costliest player in the league after being bought by Haryana Steelers for a massive ₹151 lakhs.
Fazel Atrachali became the priciest overseas player after bagging a whopping ₹100 lakhs. Prashanth Rai became the costliest player on Day 2 of the auctions.
The team management of UP Yoddhas just like the other 11 teams stressed on making "The Winning Team", but it seemed like they faced difficulty while doing the same.
They let out Nitin Tomar in the auctions which were a big mistake as he was bought by Puneri Paltan for an unexpectedly high price of ₹115 lakhs.
UP's team management did some intense bidding during the auctions, as they bought the beast Prashanth Kumar Rai for a hefty amount of ₹79 lakhs.
Here is an expert analysis of UP Yoddhas full squad:
#1 Raiders
There is a total of seven defenders in UP's team. It consists of Rishank Devadiga, who was the Kabaddi Nationals champion as he helped his team Maharashtra win the trophy after nineteen long years.
Talking about his performance in the league, he is one of the finest raiders we have ever witnessed. He played for U Mumba till season four and was awarded the best raider of the league in season three. In season five; he scored a total of 170 points in 21 matches. This time, Rishank is undoubtedly the best player in UP Yoddhas.
The list also has the Mangalore-based player Prashanth Kumar Rai, who played for Haryana Steelers last season. He became the most expensive player on the Day two of the auctions.
Prashanth played exceptionally well for his team and helped Haryana to reach the qualifiers. He also showed a top class game while playing for Karnataka's team in the Nationals. The 34-year-old raider will now be seen donning the yellow-maroon t-shirt of UP Yoddhas.
Other than Rishank and Prashanth, there are no big names in the team. Former U Mumba player Shrikant Jadhav, Bangladeshi player Sulieman Kabir, Rohit Kumar Chaudary, Bhanu Pratap Tomar and Azad Singh will also be seen playing for UP's franchise this time.
Altogether, UP's raiding side is not impressive. They should have gone for more reliable and supportive players, but we will get to see when the season arrives.
#2 Defenders
There are seven defenders on the team. Jeeva Kumar is one of them. He played for U Mumba till season four before switching to the Yoddhas.
He is one of the most experienced defenders in the league with 156 points in 74 matches. The fans of UP will look up to him as a savior because there is no other reliable defender in the team.
Other young players like Nitesh Kumar, Pankaj, Sachin Kumar, Vishav Chaudhary, Nitin Mavi, and Amit will also be seen controlling the defensive side of the team.
It is quite obvious that the defender's side already looks tattering and only a miracle could help in saving the team.
If we look at the brighter side, then the team has new players, and in the past, we have seen new players like Sachin Tanwar perform brilliantly right from their first match.
#3 All-rounders
Nothing much could be said about the all-rounders of the team. There is a total of four all-rounders, and none of them are in the top ten all-rounders in the league which is a bit disappointing.
We have Seong Ryeol Kim, Sagar B. Krishna, Akram Shaikh and Narender as all-rounders. None of them is experienced or have shown an astonishingly good performance.
The team will have to work together if they want to win the league. An out of the world performance by Rishank, Jeeva and Prashanth are required this season if they really want to excel.
Not retaining Nitin was a huge mistake and now the team management made another big mistake by not selecting a variety of reliable players.
Even though no player is bad, but the form of any player plays a huge role in any team. We hope to see some new player shine and perform miracles for the team.
What do you think about UP Yoddha's team this season? Sound off in the comments section below!